News stories have been published around the world purporting to have evidence of “another” mistake in the Bible. However, once again the “experts” have only shown their bias and their failure to actually read all but one or two Bible verses-if that.
This time the “evidence” against the Bible concerns the Canaanites. Researchers believe they’ve found DNA evidence that ninety percent of modern day Lebanese are descended from the Canaanites. This, according to reporters as desperate to “disprove” the Bible as they are to “destroy Trump”, is evidence against the Bible, because according to the reports the Bible says the Canaanites were wiped out.
The Washington Post claims that “The Hebrew text offers one explanation for the destiny of the Canaanites: annihilation” (note 1). The obvious conclusion we’re supposed to make, based on the recent research, is that the Bible must be wrong. It continues:
Now a study of Canaanite DNA, published Thursday in the American Journal of Human Genetics, rules out the biblical idea that an ancient war wiped out the group.
Again, the Post is saying that the Bible is wrong because it says the Canaanites were wiped out but they’re still around.
This is, to put it very politely, an untruth. Yes, God wanted the Israelites to purge the land of Canaanites because of the evil they had descended to: killing babies in sacrifice, idolatry, sexual deviancy (sound familiar? See Deuteronomy 20:17-18). However, the Biblical record very clearly states that the Israelites failed in their mission, and did not, as the Post claims the Bible says, “wipe out the group” or “annihilate” the group, or destroy all their cities.
Here are a couple of examples of what the Bible really says happened, rather than the lies or the statements of very uninformed reporters, towards the end of the movement of the Israelites into the land:
“And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canannites lived in Gezer among them” (Judges 1:29);
“Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of Nahalol, so the Canaanites lived among them…” (Judges 1:30);
Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or the inhabitants of Sidon or of Ahlab or of “…(etc). (Judges 1:31).
Joshua chapter 9 tells the story of how an entire city of Canaanites survived by being deceptive.
As an aside, isn’t it interesting that what we are discussing is actually evidence FOR the Bible! The Canaanites did -and do- exist, in that very part of the world as recorded in the Bible.
Another error is seen in the Washington Post’s report. It states:
“University of North Carolina religious studies professor Bart D. Ehrman noted in a 2013 blog post that, beyond the Hebrew Bible …there are no references in any other ancient source to a massive destruction of the cities of Canaan.”
If this learned prof. had taken the trouble to look he would see, as we can see just from the few examples above, that the Bible says many Canaanite cities, including large ones such as Sidon, were not destroyed but continued to be inhabited.
A NOTABLE CANAANITE SURVIVOR
One most notable Canaanite who the Bible very clearly tells us survived was Rahab, a prostitute. Rahab was the woman who hid the Israelite spies in Jericho. For her faith she and her family were spared and blessed by the invaders (Joshua 7:25). Not only did she and her family of Canaanites survive, according to the Bible book of Joshua, but Rahab was in the lineage of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:5).
James in the New Testament noted that Rahab’s faith caused her to be considered “righteous” in the eyes of the Lord (James 2:25). This is the way-the only way-you or I can be reconciled to God, and it’s the message of the New Testament as well as being the veiled message of the Old. Paul said:
“…by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8 ESV).
At least the UK’s Telegraph had the decency to print a correction in a similar report, though at the end, where most people don’t read. It said:
Correction: The original version of this story erroneously said the Bible claimed the Canaanites were wiped. However, elsewhere in the Bible, it says the elimination was not successful (2).
Anytime you read about “evidence” against the Bible or against the Creation, you need to do a little digging, and you’ll soon find that the so-called “evidence” is no more than bias and wishful thinking.
1 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2017/07/27/ancient-dna-solves-mystery-of-the-canaanites-reveals-the-biblical-peoples-fate/?utm_term=.8ded561fb03c
2 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/07/28/study-disproves-bibles-claim-ancient-canaanites-wiped/
